Every writer has their own revision rules— some useful, some superstition, some flat-out contradictory. This session digs into the "rules" that actually hold up: when to revise on the sentence level versus the structural level, how to know if a scene (or a whole draft) needs to be cut versus fixed, how much distance to take before revising, and when "kill your darlings" is good advice versus an excuse to avoid harder decisions. We'll also talk about the rules worth breaking— the ones that work for some writers and actively hurt others. You'll leave with a sharper, more personalized set of principles for revision, and the judgment to know when to follow them and when to throw them out.
Rick Moody is the author of six novels, three collections of stories, and three works of non-fiction. He writes regularly about music at Salmagundi magazine.
